Two Millersville football players suspended following assault charges

Two Millersville football players suspended following assault charges

Connor Marsico (Left) and Kenneth Brown (Right)

The Dauphin County District Attorney’s son and another Millersville University football player were suspended from the university’s athletic program earlier this week after being arrested in connection with the robbery and assault of a man in Shippensburg.

The suspension went into effect Tuesday after 18-year-old Connor Marsico, of Harrisburg, and 18-year-old Kenneth Brown II, of Ardmore, were arrested on Feb. 1, school officials said.

Marsico faces charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, conspiracy and harassment. He is the son of Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico.

The pair have been suspended from all team activities until the judicial process and the school’s office of judicial affairs investigation has been completed, school officials said.

According to court documents, a 21-year-old Mifflinburg man was walking along North Earl Street at Lancaster Drive in Shippensburg on Feb. 1 when Brown and Marsico approached him.

The man told police the pair asked for directions to Richard Avenue and then Brown hit him in the face and knocked him to the ground. The man’s glasses were broken, and his phone, debit card, his Shippensburg University Identification Card, some gift cards and a small amount of money were taken, according to charging documents.

Police said the man was able to flag down a Shippensburg University police officer and was taken to Carlisle Regional Medical Center for treatment.

State troopers responded to the scene and shortly after arriving, a motorist stopped and told police they had been just asked for directions to Interstate 81 by a group of people in a Silver BMW. The people were very specific and asked for a route that did not pass the Bard Apartments. Thinking it was a strange request, the motorist wrote down the license plate number, police said.

Investigators stopped the suspicious vehicle along I-81 near mile marker 50 for a traffic violation and found Brown and Marsico inside, along with three others.

According to charging documents, the unidentified driver of the vehicle allowed police to search the car, despite Brown’s protests. Troopers found the personal effects of the man who reported the assault earlier.

The driver told authorities that Brown and Marsico had asked him to stop when when they passed a man, saying they were going to “beat him up,” according to a criminal complaint. Both Brown and Marsico were let out and when the driver returned to pick them up, Brown told him he “dropped the guy with a punch,” and Marsico told the driver he kicked the man, according to charging documents.

Marsico initially told police he had no knowledge of the assault, but later changed his statement. Marsico said that he and Brown got out of the vehicle looking for a fight, and he saw Brown punch the man. Marscio also said he told the driver he kicked the man, but told police he did not kick him, according to the criminal complaint.

Brown denied any knowledge of the assault and claimed he was not involved, police said.

Both Marsico and Brown have since posted bail after being placed in Cumberland County Prison.